A Young Woman's Heart

But it's only five days, so it probably won't have much effect.

And whether it was just Mo Xueyao's imagination or not, she felt that he seemed to have gained a little weight...

Squatting on the ground and plowing the land with a small hoe was actually quite tiring. When Mo Xueyao stood up, she felt her legs were numb. She endured the soreness and numbness and stomped her feet several times before she finally recovered.

She looked at the boys on the other side and found that quite a few of them were also slacking off by taking the girls' small hoes. Li Hongran and several other boys were carrying a special plowing tool and walking slowly, probably experiencing what it's like to be a plow ox.

"I must say, it's quite heavy—" Li Hongran walked from one end to the other and then back again, repeating this many times until her whole body was soaked in sweat.

"Is this usually done manually?" Lu Bolun couldn't help but ask the instructor.

“In the past, almost every household would raise cattle. Now that there’s not much land left, raising cattle isn’t worthwhile, so people mostly use manpower. Only a few families still raise cattle, and when things get really busy, people will borrow them.” The uncle, with a lit cigarette dangling from his lips, smiled and pointed to another field not far away, “See that? Over there.”

"Oh—what kind of cow is that, a water buffalo or a yellow cattle?" Mo Xueyao stood on tiptoe to take a look and asked curiously.

“That’s a water buffalo. You can ride it into the water, haha.” The uncle took a deep drag on his cigarette. “When I was a kid, I often rode a water buffalo across the river.”

"It's so big, can it swim?" Mo Xueyao asked in surprise. Although she knew that water buffalo could go into the water, she was still a little skeptical when she actually saw such a huge animal.

"They'll just walk through the shallow water, right? After all, it's so big, it certainly won't be completely submerged," Zhou Yong guessed.

"Of course it can swim. Not only can it swim, it can also dive." The uncle skillfully flicked his cigarette ash. "He should bring it over for us to see later. You city folks probably aren't used to it, because it still smells a bit when you get close."

"Why does its skin look yellow to me? It doesn't look like a water buffalo. Water buffaloes aren't gray; their color is more like cement, isn't it?" Luberon asked, puzzled.

"Ha, it's too far away, you can't see it clearly, that's not the color of leather, that's the color of yellow mud, it probably got dirty from working before."

Large animals like cattle and sheep were very familiar to people in ancient times, but they are quite unfamiliar to children in modern cities.

Although their meat is readily available, many people may never have seen them alive.

The oxen were visited one class at a time in order. By the time it got to the second class, it would probably be almost lunchtime. Mo Xueyao wasn't in a hurry to go over and see them; she figured she could see them later if she wanted to.

Just as she was about to return to the group of girls, she saw Mr. Xue squatting by the stream in the field with a small hoe.

This surprised her.

She thought Mr. Xue wouldn't be lazy with the small hoe; he should be diligently turning the soil with the big hoe, right?

Sometimes, Mo Xueyao even felt that Mr. Xue was a male version of Li Wanyan.

He is equally meticulous and attentive in his work, and also somewhat rigid—but as things stand, Mr. Xue doesn't seem to be a rigid person, nor someone who is always extremely demanding of himself.

Thinking about it carefully, he was indeed much more casual than Li Wanyan in many ways.

She rolled her eyes, quietly walked behind him, and raised her hand to pat him on the back to scare him, but he spoke first, which startled her instead.

"Xiaoyao?"

"Wow! How did you know it was me?" Mo Xueyao took a half step back and asked nervously, "Do you have eyes in the back of your head?"

"Huh? Of course not."

"How did you find out? I didn't make a sound, did I?"

“It’s a shadow.” Mr. Xue turned his head and smiled, pointing to the shadow on the ground.

This made Mo Xueyao blush a little. It turned out that she had only noticed this detail, but she had made a big fuss about it.

"Xiaoxue, you can be lazy too?" She changed the subject and squatted down next to him.

"Hmm, I'm a little tired, I'll rest for a while." Mr. Xue's answer was quite frank. He held a hoe but didn't start turning the soil, as if he was looking for something.

"What are you doing?"

"I have found an invasive species of ants."

"Ant?"

“Hmm.” Mr. Xue pointed to a large rock by the stream. “There might be an entrance here, and the real nest should be under a tree.”

"Is this what you mean?" Mo Xue pointed to the dark brown ant crawling at Mr. Xue's feet. It was about two centimeters long and was carrying a green leaf that was twice its own size as it moved forward.

The leaf wasn't a complete leaf; a small portion was yellowish, but most of it was green, suggesting that this 'fresher' part had been deliberately chosen.

“Yes, these are called leafcutter ants. They’re quite interesting; they can grow their own mushrooms,” Mr. Xue chuckled.

"So their staple food is leaves?" Mo Xueyao picked up a twig and gently poked the big-headed ant.

"No, it's mainly about drinking the sap from the leaves and planting those leaves to ferment. Once tiny mushrooms grow from them, they're eaten."

"So, they also farm?" Mo Xueyao asked in surprise.

"Yes."

"Are there really ants this intelligent?"

“Nature is amazing. It wasn’t humans who first learned to cultivate crops,” Mr. Xue said, blocking the small hole.

"What are you doing?"

"Let's see where it gets back to its nest."

"Will they look for other entrances?"

"perhaps."

The large ant touched the blocked entrance to its hole with its antennae, seemingly realizing it couldn't get back from there, and continued carrying the leaf in another direction.

Whenever it tried to crawl into the hole along the way, Mr. Snow would quickly block the entrance.

At this moment, he was nothing like his usual mature and composed self; he was just a playful little kid!

Mo Xueyao followed Mr. Xue and finally found the ant's nest—under a wild pomelo tree.

"The nest should be inside here." Mr. Xue poked around with his hoe a few times, turning over the soil little by little.

"Huh? Won't this destroy their nests?" Mo Xueyao asked worriedly.

“It’s alright, it’s an invasive species that’s harmful to crops.” Mr. Xue smiled. “I did that just now to destroy their nests in one fell swoop.”

"Well……"

Mr. Xue's words were casual, but Mo Xueyao felt a pang of guilt.

After all, these are living beings, yet he seemed to have no qualms whatsoever—even though they are indeed an invasive species and should be eradicated…

Mo Xueyao bit her lip. Reason told her that doing so was the right thing to do, but when Mr. Xue completely dug open the ant nest, she couldn't help but close her eyes for a moment.

A vast ant empire unfolded before them, with intricate pathways and countless ants busily at work.

This was the first time Mo Xueyao had ever seen an ant nest in person, and her curiosity completely overshadowed her earlier reluctance.

"This is the hatchery. These are ants specifically used to raise ant eggs. They're very small, can you see them?"

"Um……"

"Let me see, this is the queen ant. All these ants are gathered in this area, trying to move the queen ant elsewhere."

"So, are we going to kill them all?"

"Ah."

"Can't we just kill the queen ant?" Mo Xueyao subconsciously gripped the hem of her clothes.

“…Okay.” Mr. Xue smiled and glanced at her, then used his hoe to kill the queen ant who didn’t have time to escape. The ant empire was in complete chaos, just like it had lost its king.

"Phew, that's good enough. Ants are actually quite interesting." Mo Xueyao breathed a sigh of relief as she watched Mr. Xue cover the nest with soil again, turning it into their grave.

The ants themselves weren't wrong; they just infringed on human interests...

She pursed her lips and inwardly mocked her own meaningless pity.

We eat meat all the time, but you know that large animals suffer much more when they are killed.

Therefore, a wise person should stay away from the kitchen!

……

Chapter 84 A Big Water Buffalo

The midday sun appeared and disappeared intermittently, as if playing hide-and-seek with the people on the ground.

Lunch has been delivered by the trolley. The dishes are the same as before, except that the staple food has been changed from steamed corn bread to rice cake.

Mo Xueyao sat next to Li Wanyan, eating rice cakes in small bites, and saw a water buffalo being slowly led over by its herdsman in the distance.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the rope was actually hanging on the water buffalo's body; it wasn't being led at all, and it was simply following behind the herdsman.

Large animals always have a fishy or pungent smell, since they can't bathe all day like humans. But they eat a lot and excrete a lot, so over time, they inevitably develop a foul odor.

The students who were eating quickly moved away from it, with only a few students, whether they had a problem with their noses or simply didn't mind, crowding around it.

After finishing the rice cake in a few bites, Hua Yinyin curiously went over and stood not far away watching the water buffalo.

Seeing that she had gone over, Mo Xueyao was also a little itchy to follow. She gave half a piece of rice cake to Li Wanyan for safekeeping and ran over after her.

When I arrived, the water buffalo had already taken a short bath in the river, washing off the yellow mud. It dried quickly in the midday sun and was now gently swaying its whip-like tail, looking exceptionally relaxed.

The uncle went up to the cattle herder and chatted with him for a few words in a dialect that the students could hardly understand. Then he turned around and said with a smile in Mandarin, “Come on, you can take a closer look, but don’t move too much or use too much force. Generally speaking, water buffaloes are very docile, but we’re just afraid that it might get angry.”

The students looked at each other, none of them daring to go over.

Although the animal in front of us was a herbivore, its enormous size still made us somewhat intimidated.

Yang Yankai was the first to walk over. Perhaps because he had lived in the countryside for a long time, he was not afraid of the water buffalo, but he was still very careful in his movements.

"Don't worry, my water buffalo is very well-behaved." The cattle herder grinned and patted the buffalo's head. The buffalo's two big ears twitched nimbly before it lowered its head again.

Yang Yan first gently stroked its back, and then stroked its head.

The buffalo stared straight at him, its eyes clear and innocent, devoid of hostility or curiosity, like a child who could see into people's hearts.

Dogs and cats generally avoid eye contact with people; if they do, it means they intend to attack.

The cow, on the other hand, makes eye contact with a person more like eye contact between people, calm and gentle, as if waiting for you to speak while it listens attentively.

“I also have water buffalo in my hometown, but my family has never raised them.” Yang Yankai gently stroked the water buffalo’s chin, and the buffalo obediently raised its head, its slightly narrowed eyes seemingly expressing its pleasure.

Once someone took the lead, the other students were no longer afraid and gathered around.

Mo Xueyao carefully touched the cow's back and found that the seemingly smooth skin actually had a lot of long hair, but it was not fluffy. It was more like human hair, and it lay flat on the cow's skin.

Its skin was also much thicker than she had imagined—hard and tough.